It could easily be interpreted that the product you are selling is the purchase of their home.Consider working with a list broker who can make some suggestions of new lists for motivated sellers that don't rely on public data and are therefore exempt from the rules that you are running into with the tax records.One such list is Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS), another is Seniors with Long-time Ownership.

I would prefer to go directly to the sellers broker to avoid having any communication issues as things often get interpreted incorrectly and too much back and forth can ruin a deal.

The interpretation is that if you do it before the exchange you're trying to get profit out of the 1031. 

The IRS will not interpret it that way. 

The reason is the very specific way the IRS interprets boot in a partial 1031 exchange.

So, I read the Philly housing codes, and my interpretation was the wall repair was an ordinary repair...hanging drywall over the the lath where plaster use to be, so no permit needed. 

There must be a mistake in the information, or the interpretation of it. 

Judges interpret laws, a judge can always disagree with our interpretation.

After all, this is not the main influencing factor, and you have absolute power to interpret.

Rhett is correct in that generally the nuts and bolts of a contract can be interpreted fairly well by the agent and/or title company if they'll extend the advice to you.